Europe's first stealth drone, Neuron, takes flight

The first stealth combat drone to be developed in Europe has made
its maiden voyage from a test base in Istres, France.

The Neuron ("nEUROn") is a collaboration between France,
Italy, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland and Greece. It has a ten-metre
length, and a wingspan of 12.5 metres, and it's powered by a Rolls
Royce Turbomeca Adour engine. It's been built by Dassault Aviation
in France.

The Neuron is a technology demonstrator, meaning that it's a one
off and won't be produced in bulk -- a bit like a concept car.
However, the five year design and development process, as well as
the static testing of the craft, means that future development in
Europe will be easier.

After its first voyage, it'll continue to be tested in France
until 2014, when it'll be first moved to the Vidsel range in Sweden
and then to the Perdasdefogu range in Italy. In both locations, its
stealth capabilities and ability to drop precision-guided missiles
will be tested.

Future drones developed from the Neuron design will have
capabilities and ranges that are similar to those of manned combat
craft, making them considerably more advanced than the current
generation of "Predator-class" drones that are being widely used in
Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Libya.

Edited by Olivia Solon

Comments

ah, the terrible sound of progress marching onward.

simon

Dec 11th 2012

I was surprised to read the line "After its first voyage". Presumably the machine is intended to fly and if it swims instead of flying it will be a major disappointment.

Now that video and computer technology has improved so much we should be able to view the enemy in HD video. If this was uplinked to a satellite instead of downlinked to earth there would be less chance of the transmissions being detected.